


My Love Must Be a Kind of Blind Love

by brandnewsoul



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-20
Updated: 2011-02-20
Packaged: 2017-10-15 19:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/164075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandnewsoul/pseuds/brandnewsoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It seemed like such a waste to her to have everyone dress up so nice only for them to dance around like they did in their street clothes." Rachel and Puck at prom, originally written for the drabble meme at puckrachel on LiveJournal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Love Must Be a Kind of Blind Love

**Author's Note:**

> The song that Puck requested is The Flamingoes' "I Only Have Eyes for You", and the title is a line from that particular version of the song.

Rachel had seen her share of teen movies, mostly for research purposes. After all, she is a fresh-faced ingénue and should Broadway not immediately take to her, she figures that her youthful appearance could be enough to get her cast in a CW primetime soap and then move on up from there. It worked for Michelle Williams, so there's no reason that it couldn't work for her, right?

But that was beside the point.

In the summers in between seventh and eighth grade, Rachel committed to watching as many high school movies as she could, just so that she could prepare for the part of Teenager in earnest. The movies taught her to never underestimate the handsome, popular boys because they might like you but not have the opportune moment to tell you, and if you just waited they would be won over by your charm and at prom, you would slow dance and kiss under the shimmer of a disco ball to an amazingly romantic song that the DJ had picked out just for that occasion.

But in the ballroom of Lima's Mariott, no such thing was happening. After Santana and Sam were crowned queen and king, the DJ on duty had started playing nothing but the most raucous, raunchy hits that had been huge during the past year, and her classmates were crowded on the small area of dance floor grinding on each other. For a while Rachel had joined Mercedes and Quinn at a corner of the floor that wasn't occupied by dancers who were practically simulating sex with each other, but she'd grown tired of the bumping and grinding and walked away only for her friends to protest. "C'mon, Rachel!" Quinn had shouted over the music as she left the floor. "Don't be a party pooper."

"This is prom!" Rachel shouted back. "Where's the slow songs?" It seemed like such a waste to her to have everyone dress up so nice only for them to dance around like they did in their street clothes. "Someone needs to consult the DJ about playing something slower, because this is a formal event, after all, and it requires a bit of formality. Do you know how proms got started?"

"No," Quinn said.

"Does it matter?" Mercedes added with a heavy sigh.

Rachel groaned in irritation. "Do you want to know?"

"No!" the other girls replied.

Left alone, Rachel went to peruse the large black books that contained lists of songs that could be requested. There hadn't been very many moments during her four years at McKinley that she'd had perfect control over, but maybe if she picked just the right song, everything would come together in…

"Berry, what are you doing?"

"I am attempting to find a song that will salvage this prom." She didn't bother to turn around to face him. He wouldn't understand the importance of what she was trying to do.

"What are you even talking about?" Puck asked. He was standing next to her now and running his fingers over the covers of one of the song books.

"Have you noticed that there has not been a single slow song tonight? It's ten forty-five! Our senior prom can't not have a single slow song played at it!"

"Of course it can," Puck said pointedly. He had long since shed his suit's jacket and had unbuttoned his shirt sleeves and rolled them up past his elbows. Rachel noticed that he had loosened his red tie and it was half shoved into his vest. "Slow dancing is boring."

Rachel slammed the book she had been leafing through shut. "No it's not! It's keeping with tradition! Do you know where the idea for proms even came from?"

Puck crossed his arms and glared at her. "No, but you're gonna tell me anyway, right?"

"Prom is short for promenade, which means a processional into a ballroom to announce the arrival of guests," Rachel began. "This was a tradition in the late nineteenth century, when wealthy families would have debutante parties for their daughters announcing their acceptance into society. Middle class families liked the poise and grace of the debutantes and adapted the idea of a large formal fete for their own children, hence the black tie apparel and dancing—though not the kind that is being performed at present." She took a deep breath. "And that is why I need to find a perfect song, so that we can for at least one moment pretend to be ladies and gentlemen and dance civilly, because I did not allow Mercedes, Quinn, and Kurt to drag me to no fewer than ten stores to find a dress that would not, in Kurt's words, make me look like a nun."

"Is that it?"

"Yes, Noah, it is." She stood up straighter and adjusted the top of her red floor-length gown.

Puck took a long look at her. "Well, you don't look like a nun. How about I just pick a page out of this book, pick a song, and if it's a slow one I'll dance with you, so that your not-nun dress won't be a total waste? I mean, it's not like you're going to take it off for anyone, right?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Do you have to be crass?" Rachel would have been offended had anyone else said this to her, but it was Puck. She was used to commentary like this from him by now, even if she didn't always like it.

"I'm just saying. Heard this thing from someone once about how a dress doesn't make any sense unless it inspires a guy to take it off you." He flipped the book open to one page and ran a finger down a column. "I'm just saying that yours makes sense."

"Thank you?"

Puck stopped dragging his finger down a page and leaned closer to see the title. "Looks like you're in luck. Hey!" he shouted at the DJ, a spindly looking man with a head of wavy wheat-colored hair. "I got a request for you."

"Which song?" Rachel asked as she reached for his arm. "Which song?!" She tried to catch a glimpse of the words on the page but Puck slammed the book shut and walked over to the side to talk to the DJ. "Puck!" she shouted as soon as he finished and started to go back toward the dance floor. "What did you tell him?"

"Can't you just be surprised for once?" he asked. "You never know how to just enjoy something surprising, do you?"

"I don't like surprises! Whenever someone tries to surprise me it always ends badly!" She thought about mentioning all the times she'd heard someone call out her name and follow it with _surprise!,_ only for her to turn around and get a face full of slushie.

He reached over and grabbed her wrist. "Look, just trust me." His eyes met hers, and for the briefest of moments Rachel felt strangely at ease with him holding her. "Okay?"

The song that was blasting came to an end, and the squeal of feedback came over the speakers as the DJ adjusted his microphone. "Here's something a little nice and slow, as requested by… Puckzilla." His fingers stumbled over the keyboard of his laptop for a second, and he added, "It's time to get close."

Rachel was frozen for a second until she recognized the song. "How—how do you know this song? I love it." She shook her wrist free of Puck's grasp and clapped her hands excitedly as the dulcet tones of the doo-wop group seemed to lure the couples onto the dance floor.

Puck shrugged. "It's my nana's favorite. I think she got married to it or something. You want to dance? Shit, let me try that again." He quickly glanced around the room before looking back at Rachel and bowing ever so slightly and holding out his hand. "Rachel, may I have this dance?"

"Yes." Rachel took his hand and placed her free one on his shoulder. "Yes, Noah, you may have this dance."

 


End file.
